The Healthy Deviant

Want to be a healthy, happy person in an unhealthy world? Get ready to start breaking some rules.

Pilar Gerasimo, founding editor of Experience Life magazine, argues that in an unhealthy society like ours, being a healthy person requires choices and patterns so unconventional, they amount to a positive form of social deviance. For decades, we've been lectured by experts and authority figures on the importance of dieting, exercising, and living in prescribed ways. It seems as if we are constantly being flooded by advice, only to have that advice refuted and replaced by something new. Part manifesto, part new-era survival guide, The Healthy Deviant is a renegade handbook for those who want to beat the unhealthy odds. With insight and expertise, using hand-drawn illustrations and easy-to-grasp charts, Gerasimo explains how we can reclaim our health and happiness--by refusing to play games rigged against us, and by breaking away from the systems that have been breaking us down. Drawing on medical, psychological, and brain-science research, this book provides practical advice for enhancing the efficacy of any weight-loss, mindfulness, or health-improvement approach--without insisting on any one-size-fits all method or miracle cure. Gerasimo's 14-day Healthy-Deviant Adventure Program presents a series of "Renegade Rituals" (plus daily readings, worksheets, reminders, and progress tracking tools) that put you firmly back in charge of your own wellbeing. For anyone interested in living with greater vitality and resilience, The Healthy Deviant offers fresh hope, renewed motivation, and a clear path toward a vibrant life of your own choosing.

About the Author

Pilar Gerasimo is an award-winning health journalist, founding editor-in-chief of Experience Life magazine (national paid circulation 750,000; estimated reach 3.2 million), and the creative force behind the popular mobile app, "101 Revolutionary Ways to Be Healthy." Gerasimo previously served as the top editor of Healthy Living for Huffington Post, where she was also a longtime blogger. She co-hosts The Living Experiment podcast (livingexperiment.com) with Whole30 founder Dallas Hartwig, which earned a top-five spot on iTunes in its first week. A frequent speaker, workshop leader, and expert guest for radio and TV, Gerasimo is currently serving as Chief Creative Officer for the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. She splits her time between New York City and her family's organic farm in western Wisconsin.